Carbon Quest International supports agricultural communities by providing education in advanced technologies, engineering and applied sciences for developing sustainable projects appropriate to United Nations Development Project UNIFEM and UNICEF for women and children in agriculturally based communities.  

About St. Werburg's and the Rural Community 
St. Werburg’s Primary School near Mutare is currently involved in an innovative and exciting project, which produces agricultural products using hydroponic technology as part of their ongoing curriculum.  The children use hydroponic technology to construct small container gardens, which produce fresh vegetables to support their nutritional needs at school as well as for home use.  Children participate in ongoing experiments and learn about growing plants in soil as well as hydroponics. 

St. Werburg's School has a student population of 997 (as of 1998) children in first through seventh grades.  Primary school is the only free public education offered to the children of Zimbabwe.  St. Werburg's School was built in 1902 by the Anglican ministry.  The rural village population of about 3000 is predominately Anglican and agriculturally based.  

A drought was severally hampering food production when we began our project in 1996, and the population survived due to international support efforts.  Scarcely a single child at St. Werburg's had not lost a classmate to hunger and malnutrition. 

On our first visit to St. Werburg's School in August, 1996, we found no paper, pencils or pens for the children.  We found the library of textbooks for the school on a single small shelf.  Among other subjects, each child is taught to read and write in both their native language Shona and English.  Without textbooks or any learning tools for the children, the teachers still find ways to teach the children to read and write from blackboards.  We found the entire supply of chalk for the school in one box, small pieces of broken and well worn nubs.  

Most of the rural population of the village is employed in the agricultural industry, primarily as field hands.  The average wage for each adult is $25 a month.  According to local community leaders, many times both mother and father work to provide enough corn meal to feed their families.  The only fresh vegetables available for the family is grown in small home gardens or community lands.  Often children work in the fields to support the family and do not attend school.  

Due to the AIDS epidemic, an estimated 45% of the village adults between 25 and 45 years old have contacted the disease.  This crisis, along with periodic drought and the poverty plaguing agricultural workers, is increasing the burden of women and their resources to meet food daily food needs, and is straining the community at large.  

About Carbon Quest International 
Carbon Quest International was formed as a U.S. 501-C(3) non-profit organization in 1995 and has NGO status in Zimbabwe.  Our mission is to contribute toward solutions to balance the earth's carbon emissions and work to restore balance in the use of natural resources.  We are an international grassroots group of engineers, scientists, teachers and technology professionals responding actively to support efforts which help reduce environmental and personal energy costs, conserve and replenish resources.  

Children are the primary beneficiaries of our focused efforts, combating both human and environmental degradation.  We provide information, education and educational support, transferring these technologies and methods to children to develop their skills to meet their own needs.  The Global Classroom projects and The Global Classroom Scholarship Fund provides and shares resources and information with schools, children and their communities globally, with administration costs of 5 to 10%.  

Providing children with active education in science and mathematics to build self sufficiency skills to meet their own needs reduces the demand for women's time, resources and energy, and gives hope for further economic development.  

United Nations Project Model Used 
In Jerusalen, near Bogota, Columbia, a United Nations Development Project taught simple hydroponic techniques to urban women in a very impoverished area.  The women grew small gardens in containers on balconies, rooftops and other small spaces. The vegetables produced, in just a few months time, extra income for families as well as fresh foods.  Using this Bogota UNDP project as a model, a similar strategy was employed for Zimbabwe.  

Hydroponic culture needs about 1/20th the water required for soil culture, can produce up to six times the yield in less space, and does not require rich top soil for cultivation.  Hydroponics can rehabilitate both man and environment when applied in conjunction with solar and other resource conserving and enhancing technologies. Recycling all nutrient waters in the hydroponic watering process conserves resources and labor. Hydroponics can be cultured by inorganic nutrients, chemical fertilizers or organically.  Organic nutrients such as worm castings and composted bat guano are readily available in much of rural Africa and have been successfully applied in Mutare. 

History of the Children's Garden:  Applying Hydroponic Technology 
This Carbon Quest International project began in August of 1996 in the rural village of Old Mutare at St. Werburg's School through a Sister Cities International Trilateral Project (Supporo, Portland and Mutare) with the Japanese Council of Governments, the Portland-Mutare Sister City Association.  

The City of Portland's Office of International Relations, the World Affairs Council joined together and provided the original funding enabling Carbon Quest International to establish and "twin" the two hydroponic projects in Mutare, one at the St. Werburg’s School and one at the Africa University.  Twinning hydroponic projects were also established at the Arcadia School in Toledo, Oregon and at Oregon State University. 

As AIDS, poverty and droughts plague Mutare, with women and children carrying water to meet their needs, Headmistress Veronicah Nyoni asked "Can anything be done to stop this devastation to children?"   Today, by applying appropriate science and technology through education, there is hope. 
 
 

Early Project Development 
A startup grant was used to bring Headmistress Veronicah Nyoni of St. Werburg's School, to work with forth grade teacher Mike Tyler from Arcadia Middle School in Toledo, Oregon.  Both teachers represented rural schools in agricultural communities and expressed a strong interest in starting hydroponic projects. This "twinning" has proven successful and is being applied throughout the project. 

Veronicah and Mike developed a strategy for the two schools to become involved in similar projects. Together they received training in email, web page building and using the Internet for instruction and research.  Peggy Bradley, bioresearch engineer at Bradley Hydroponics, visited the school site for one month to instruct teachers, consult in greenhouse design and construction, and help develop their hydroponic projects.  Carbon Quest International donated the teacher's hydroponic kits, along with the equipment and nutrients needed for instruction.  

Mike Tyler, interested in using hydroponic science as a teaching tool, succeeded in establishing a hydroponic and aquaculture greenhouse at Arcadia School from a subsequent grant.  The project at Arcadia school is used as a model for many grade schools throughout Oregon.  It has influenced the surrounding community, inspired startup commercial ventures, a project in Canby, Oregon and other elementary schools now starting small projects. 

Veronicah Nyoni and the Mutare community built a hydroponic greenhouse at St. Werburg’s School using a donation from Carbon Quest International.  The 3000 member community worked together to design and built the bamboo structure.  They built a variety of innovative containers out of bamboo and other indigenous materials.  

The Children's Hydroponic Project Today 
At St. Werburg's today, no child is suffering malnutrition's devastation, with no reports in over three years.  This sustaining project provides for not only children's daily food needs, but has generated income for obtaining and maintaining supplies for the school.  

Now starting the forth year of development, the project at St. Werburg's produces many different types of plants using hydroponic culture for use at school and at home.  Besides raising herbs and vegetables, the child also experiment with tea and coffee plants and are learning to produce plant starts. 

The long term commitment of all the principles involved in The Global Classroom projects enables the work to progress.  The project continues to prosper because of the community support at St. Werburg's.  Local interest has provided a solid foundation for community involvement.  Plant use and plant expertise is deep seated in the elders of the village, women and many community members, sharing a strong knowledge base about agriculture and the management of sustainable subsistence food production.  

Hunger is no longer the children's daily worry.  They are now focused on learning and skill development.  Hydroponics is helping feed the community and women and children have hope for the future.  

St. Werburg's has a great impact on the village and this region of Zimbabwe.  Due to their example, the Africa University nearby started a hydroponic greenhouse as well, and is now including hydroponics in their curriculum.  Neighboring schools in the Manicaland Province have visited the Children's Garden and the Africa University, continuing the positive impact hydroponics is having on the region.  Many children and teachers have started hydroponic gardens at their homes to grow their own food, indicating a positive and natural course for Phase II development. 

Learn by Doing Teaching Methods 
The Global Classroom projects provide a good community and school connection, which has been outstanding in furthering literacy education in the adult community.  This "hands on" education format is excellent for teaching literacy not only to the students, but also the community as a whole.  All may not intuitively understand the topics of literacy and mathematics, but the instructions involving plants, when pictures show the process, with tools in hand to actively participate, provide a foundation for sharing and building a collective knowledge base.  

When children and adults are instructed in hydroponic culture using "learning by doing" techniques, they quickly comprehend new technology which involves their own cultural background and understanding.  Community participation offers countless contributions on methods of controlling insects, placement of plants for optimum growth, potential materials for organic hydroponic culture, and general improvements. 

While agricultural practices are often not elevated to the level of culture, they are in fact of fundamental importance to the community survival, and substantially enhance the strength of the project foundation as a whole. 

Educational Support Sustained 
Carbon Quest International shipped educational books, paper, pencils and basic school supplies to St. Werburg's School for the 1998 school year, with continued shipments made in 1999, including funding for continued education. Never before have students had the luxury of these simple school supplies.  

The school earns these supplies by submitting photographs, written reports and data from their experiments.  There is great potential for marketing excess food, plants, etc. for children, women, the school and community at large.  

Twinning of children without parents, usually due to AIDS, with families in the region has been successful for supporting Emilda, and we anticipate many more children needing the support of extended families. 
 
 

Brief on Plan for Development 
With AIDS is sweeping Zimbabwe and other nations, with parents dying in pairs and leaving children unattended to an already poor community.  Implementing  hydroponic technology now helps the St. Werburg's community by developing and implementing food production at the school and individual home level for all children, lessening the potentially devastating impact from AIDS, drought and other natural disasters.  

The goal of the St. Werburg's School and community is to see each child by the seventh grade growing their own food.  Many children without adult family members will need to provide their own food and relay on their developed skill for growing food. 

Phase 2 instruction continues for three years in hydroponic gardening for children to begin individual home survival gardens, with the added founding of the Children's Orchard to provide nutritional components of fats from nuts, establish cereal grains and fruit to meet daily food requirements.  Cirriculum for hydroponic techniques in grain production techniques, nut production and harvesting, and fruit tree rooting, cutting, pruning and harvesting to be developed for The Global Classroom presentation.  

This Phase 2 three year project reduces women's work by developing children's skill to provide their own food as part of their basic "learn while doing" applied education. 

Enabling children to meet their own current and future food needs reduces women's energy output and resource requirements, and leaves opportunities for restoring natural resources for all creatures.  More sustainable development opportunities may be discovered to provide marketable goods from home based gardens and orchards, as well as other business development potentials.  

Reference 1: The Growing Edge Magazine, "Thriving on a Survival Garden"; July/August 1999. 
Reference 2: The Growing Edge Magazine, "The Shona People Use Hydroponics to Fight Hunger"; March/April 1999. 
Reference 3: The Manica Post, "Hydroponic Garden Proves Effective", October 10, 1997.